Google flags PHP.net as website with malware (update: fixed)

Google flagged the website of the open source scripting language PHP.net as containing malware. The website is used by developers all over the world to download the PHP software and to look up functions of the language. PHP is used by millions of websites, like ours, to make the site more dynamic by including e.g. data from a database and displaying content under specific conditions.

Users that try to visit get a warning from Google that won’t allow them to go further. According to the webmaster Hannes Magnusson, the culprit is a Javascript file dealing with user preferences. Google has a report stating what the status of the site is and what’s wrong. According to the report the search engine found four pages containing downloads of software without the permission of the user.

More specifically Google reports four trojans coming from 4 different domains, including cobbcountybankruptcylawyer.com, stephaniemari.com and northgadui.com.